Kats and collars
by ColdStarsAndStones
Summary: Jake is having a very frustrating day. After a long day at the junkyard he now has to go and find a collar for his best friend, Chance. Easier said than done.
It was late in the day. Chance Furlong had just finished closing up the shop, turning the neon 'open' sign out front off, and putting away all the spare parts and tools. Although he'd managed to get through the latter with minimal complaint on his part, he still gave the occasional groan and frustrated grimace. Thankfully, they hadn't been too busy that day, apart from a man coming to pick up his convertible. ("See, told ya he'd come today. Betcha you're thankful I put in extra hours, eh?" "Shut it, you")

Speaking of which...

Wiping his paws on an oil rag, Chance began to wonder just where his partner had gotten off to. Jake was usually the one to lock up, while chance more or less helped. He began to wonder. Had he gone off to the yard? The hanger? No, he would have seen him. Chance sighed, and made his way to the back. Forget it, he thought. Jake'll come back soon enough.

Leading his way to the backroom, He collapsed on the sofa with a sigh of relief. All day he'd been waiting to kick back and watch his favorite show, Scardy Cat. Preferably with his partner, but it didn't look like that was happening. A while into the marathon, he considered looking for jake, before deciding against it. Maybe he wanted to go a few more times on the course, or add some adjustments to the Turbokat afterall. Hopefully.

(Skip)

Jake clawson groaned in frustration. He hadn't meant to take this long at all. The line at the store had been longer than he'd hoped, and he still had to pick out the perfect shape of his gift. It was the six year anniversary of the day Chance and him had met and became best friends. And the two and a half year anniversary of when they'd become a little more than best friends. But it's not like he was counting or anything.

He'd left without Chance knowing, heading into town using one of the many cars in their lot, a little before closing time. Jake chuckled at the knowledge that his partner was closing the shop, growling and grimacing all the way. Originally, he'd wanted to wait until their next actual anniversary to present the gift, but he couldn't wait half a year, despite being the more patient of the two, and this particular milestone was closer.

What was he getting, you ask? Jake had driven down to 'Birman's collars and more' shop at 6:00 to get one for his partner. In their world, Collars are given as gifts to those you care about. But it's not just the collar that's important, its the charm too. A charm chosen to represent everything that your mate stands for and what they mean to you.

Personally, Jake, while finding the notion nice to a degree, had never really paid them mind. He'd seen she kats get proposed to with shiny collars and diamond charms multiple times, and had never really thought anything of it. Yet here he was, in the middle of a shop, trying to find the right charm for his brute of a companion.

Finding the collar itself had been easy. The light brown of his friends tabby stripes was too perfect a color to pass up, and the size matched up with the neck of their flight suits when they were Razor and Tbone. The problem was the charm. He'd looked around the quaint little store a dozen times already and found nothing that suited Chance. Inwardly, he cringed at the amount of care he was putting into this. They never cared about these kind of things. Heck, last anniversary, they'd just closed shop an hour early and went out for pizza with extra anchovies.

Their relationship wasn't that much different from before to be honest, with the same arguing and work related companionship, just that now, a kiss or two was welcome. He supposed that their other "occupation" benefited. On the field, they could read each other better, picking out what the other needed before it left his mouth. They were a little closer than before, he also had to admit.

Jake let out a agitated hiss, ignoring the startled patrons beside him. This was going to be tedious, he could tell.

(Skip)

Chance tried to ignore the feeling in his gut as time passed. Still later, Jake had not showed. He had even gone out to look for him in the scrapyard, finding nothing. And his mind had, of course, jumped to the worst possibility.

Had he been kidnapped by Dr. Viper? Or the metallicats, or worse, Dark kat? Chance shook his head. He was being ridiculous. He knew better than anyone that Jake could handle himself. Maybe he'd gotten arrested by Feral? No, he was more careful than that, and to be honest, that seemed like something that Chance himself would get roped into.

To distract himself, he looked at the clock to his right. It read 7:19. Chance had closed the shop over an hour ago. His eyes shifted to the calender beside it, more so on the scantily clad she-cat photo on the top division. He smirked. No regrets. The month read July. Chance's memory made the connection. Six years already huh? he thought, and smiled.

Normally, he never remembered dates and Jake never cared when he didn't, and they both thought they were ridiculously cheesy anyways. A thought occured to him that maybe he was doing something for today's significance. Well, mabye not.

For a brief moment, he considered throwing his milk can at the tv again in exasperation. Their relationship was something he never put that much thought into, prefering to just go with the flow, but at times like these, he reminiced. The day Jake confessed had been one of the best days of his life, up there with starting the swat kats of course. Jake was ,truly, the best partner a cat could ask for.

Recently, they had been getting better on the field. They were better with coordination too. He recalled a fight with a street gang where they had scarcely said five words to each other, communicating solely through eye contact. They also may or may not do this when arguing about who was going to answer the door.

Chance grinned. Good times.

He decided to give it ten minutes before going to look again. He'd tried to call earlier, but gave up when he heard a ring from the next room over. And so Chance sat and stared at the tv screen. His vision started to blur. A yawn escaped his muzzle.

Maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt...

(Skip)

Jake pulled into the lot, smiling triumphantly. By the time he got back, it was very dark and a little past 7:40. But he was still satisfied. He'd finally found the perfect charm to go on the collar. It had taken even more time to get the adjustments done on it, but he figured the extra minutes would be worth it.

Stepping out of the truck, Jake scanned the pitch black yard before him, his only saving grace being night vision. He brought a paw to the back of his head guiltily. Chance was probably worried that he'd left without saying anything, not to mention he had accidentally left his phone behind in his hast out the door. Not that his Chance would say as much out loud. Jake hoped his partner wouldn't hold it against him too much.

All the way back, he'd kept wondering if Chance would even like the gift. It was no secret that the ace pilot had a low tolerance of sappy gestures. Hopefully, he would make an exception, just this once. Using his key to enter the shop, he made his way to the back room. Before he could call out, he heard a faint noise from the tv room. Smirking, Jake entered the room to find his mate sprawled out on the couch, dozing off.

The tech wiz let out a hushed laugh. No wonder he hadn't come running the moment he'd walked in. As he slowly approached the sleepy kat from behind, his foot landed on a creaky board. Chance perked up, dazed.

"Huh..? Whozerr?" He slurred, sleepily.

Taking the opportunity, Jake pounced, wrapping his arms around his partners neck.

(Skip)

Chance sprung awake and yelped in suprise. Instincts kicked in as he prepared to throw off his attacker, before hearing a familier voice pipe up next to his ear.

"Miss me?" Purred the voice.

Chance immediately relaxed. Turning around, he saw none other than his partner, Jake clawson standing behind him. Chance furrowed his eyebrows, his expression irritated, but relieved.

"Jeez, 'bout time ya got back! Where the heck where you? I looked everywhere!" He yelled. You had me worried, he contemplated saying, but didn't.

"Heh, sorry. Got caught up. Wanted to suprise you" Jake smiled guiltily.

This intrigued Chance. He raised an eyebrow. Turning the tv off, he got up to face Jake. Upon observing his friend, Chance saw that he was clad in the same work uniform from earlier, only now he had a plastic bag at his side.

"Hey, what's in the bag?" He asked, pointing. Jake chuckled.

"Close your eyes"

"Huh?"

"Just do it" Jake insisted.

Rolling his eyes, Chance obliged, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

"This better be good, sureshot"

He heard the crinkling of the plastic bag being opened. From there he also heard something being pulled out of it. Whatever it was, it made a sound like light metal hitting metal. Curiosity welled up inside him. He considered opening his eyes anyways. Before he could, jake beat him to the punch.

"Ok, open 'em".

Chance opened his eyes.

(Skip)

Jake held the collar in his paws. Upon opening his eyes, Chance had immediately went to look at the object in his hands. His eyes had widened, and his body froze. Jake felt the nervousness from before start to bubble it's way back up.

He stole a quick glance at the collar in his paws. It was a dark brown color with yellow stitches holding it together, donning a black buckle. The easier part. He then gave a once over of the charm clipped to the front. It was a pair of silver, military style dog tags. It had taken some time to get the engraving done, but is known for nothing if not her work pace.

Jake had been just about ready to give up, toss some lame excuse for being out so late and wait till next year, but his eye had caught the tags laying on the front counter. had said that she was about to throw them out, as people didn't really deem them romantic enough, and weren't selling. Jake had nearly taken them on the spot. He'd thought them perfectly fitting. Afterall, they had met in the enforcers. And Chance was just as tough as any dog he'd ever met.

Jake looked at chance again, still frozen on the spot.

"Chance? Buddy? Somethin wrong?" he asked nervously.

Chance suddenly lunged forward, trapping the swat kat in a tight bear hug. Jake gasped in suprise before sighing in relief. Guess he did like it afterall.

Chance mumbled something against his shoulder.

"What's that, buddy?" Jake inquired.

"Looks just like mom's".

Jake's eyes widened. Chance had never really talked about his mom before. He had told him that she 'hadn't been around that long', and he just had faint memories of her. That was all he was willing to discuss. Had Jake really picked a collar that looked like his mom's? Like mother like son, he guessed.

His train of thought was cut off when a pair of lips met his. Jake felt his heart swell with emotion and reciprocated just as eagerly.

After a moment, Chance pulled back with a faint blush and smile. "Thanks Jake. Really, it means a lot."

Jake smiled back. "No problem. Well?"

"Well?", Questioned Chance.

"You gonna try it on or what?", Jake asked.

"Oh. Yeah"

Chance carefully took the collar from the other tom's paws and undid the buckle. Wrapping the choker around his neck, he redid the fastening and lowered his arms.

(Skip)

Chance took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The tomcat before him had his eyes fixated on his neck. Was that a blush? Grinning, Chance fiddled with the accessory.

"So uh, how's it look?"

"Well, heh, it fits", managed Jake, bashfully.

"Gee thanks", retorted the tabby, playfully.

In truth, Jake thought that the collar was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. The sight made all the frustrations of the day worth it.

The two stood there for a few moments, grinning and blushing like idiots, before Chance took the russet furred tom by the arm over to the couch.

"Alright, enough sappy stuff. I've been waited all day to watch scardy cat with you, and I'll be damned if it's not going to happen now!"

Jake let himself be pulled over to the couch and scoffed at his friends persistence.

"Ok ok, I guess I owe ya that much."

They sat on the couch for a while, laughing at the cartoon antics on screen, when jake heard a noise from beside him. Chance was snoring. Jake grinned sleepily before leaning on his mate to take a well deserved snooze.

The collar jingled upon contact and Jake smiled.


End file.
